Town Supervisor slams LIPA for slow response to central Nassau

More than 8,000 outages still exist in East Meadow, Salisbury and Levittown

Posted
Saturday, November 10, 2012 5:11 pm

East Meadow resident Joe Popolizio has lacked power in his home for nearly two weeks.

David Weingrad/Herald

"Where's LIPA?" Councilman Gary Hudes questioned the power authority.

David Weingrad/Herald

Town of Hempstead Supervisor, joined to her right by Councilman Gary Hudes, gathered with residents in Levittown to criticize LIPA's slow response, and to demand more attention to the area.

David Weingrad/Herald

By David Weingrad

“Where is LIPA?”

That was the question asked by Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray, who, with councilman Gary Hudes, joined together on Saturday afternoon with roughly 100 residents from Levittown, East Meadow and Salisbury who have lacked power in their homes since Hurricane Sandy struck Long Island on Oct. 29.

Standing on Greenbelt Lane in Levittown, the supervisor slammed LIPA for their “indifference” towards restoring power to Nassau County homes. “I’m asking LIPA once again… do your job, be accountable and tell the truth,” said Murray. “Those are three things, as ratepayers, we deserve.”

The supervisor said that, six days ago, the town completed the pickup of downed trees in the township that were wrapped around power lines, and are now waiting for the LIPA crews to turn on the power.

According to LIPA’s power outage map listed on its website, 2,800 LIPA customers in East Meadow remain without power as of Saturday evening. An additional 1,048 customers in Salisbury also lack power, and in Levittown, 4,311 customers remain in the dark.

Hudes said he was told by the power authority that 20 extra crews would be deployed to both East Meadow and Levittown this past week. “I want to know where they are and when they are sending people to this community to help those who need the additional help,” said the councilman. “And to all of you who have jobs, and just want to go about your lives at this point.”

“Have you seen those crews anywhere?” Hudes asked the crowd surrounding him, who answered with a resounding “No.”

The councilman said that, according to LIPA, there are 17 power authority workers for every 1,000 outages in the Town of Hempstead. But in East Hampton, Hudes said, there are 52 LIPA workers for every 1,000 outages, and in Islip, there are 33 workers for every 1,000 outages. “LIPA is not giving us the services that we deserve,” he said.